


when it rains, it pours

by FireFlashMoon



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Spacebridge malfunction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 14:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11382477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFlashMoon/pseuds/FireFlashMoon
Summary: A routine energon transfer to Cybertron goes horribly wrong and strands the Command Trine on a planet long since forgotten by the universe - and with good reason. As Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker search for a way back home, Acid Storm learns why a promotion in the Decepticons is not as much as a gift as it appears to be.((ON HIATUS))





	when it rains, it pours

'You seen this, Ion?'

  
Ion Storm looked up from the datapad mountain that had formed of reports and updates to his yellow trinemate. Nova Storm sat on one of the desks, a cube of energon next to his pede, and was skimming through another datapad with a vaguely amused look on his faceplate.  
'Seen what, Nova?' The blue seeker said with a bored sigh.

  
'Ranks're reshuffling; they're movin' some of our cybes to Earth.'

  
'Oh?' Ion Storm said, his lack of interest in the topic painfully obvious. 'And this is worth interrupting me, because...?'  
Nova Storm huffed and folded his arms but grinned at the other seeker.

'Why? 'Cus you look bored outta your processor and surely this is better than looking over the 11302nd energon shipment to Outpost Σ from Shockwave, right?'  
Ion Storm sighed in frustration; he hated it when Nova was right - the seeker would hold it over his head and brag for a decaorn - but endless datapads of dry, uninteresting delivery and storage reports had worn down on his motivation to do a satisfactory job, and right now, if he was honest, even listening to the inane prattle of his trinemate - something he usually avoided like Cybonic plague - was a happy alternative.

  
'Fine, go on then. Who's being sent? Is anyone reassigned back here?'

  
'No one's being sent back, they need the cannon fodder on that mud ball.' crowed Nova Storm with a malicious grin, passing over the datapad to Ion Storm, who looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

  
'Ah, Hypernova and company, interesting.' He turned back to his trinemate, 'Any particular reason?'

  
'Haven't a clue, must have got recced by someone, poor fraggers.'

  
'Why do you say that? Surely getting reassigned to Earth is a good thing? To work directly below Lord Megatron and-' he cut himself off, realising what Nova Storm had meant. 'Oh, our Air Commander, I see.'  
The bright seeker snorted ungainly and his grin widened. He pulled the datapad out of his blue trinemate's servos and flipped it over, catching it by a corner before it could hit the floor.

  
'Thank Primus that we're needed here more, eh?'

 

Ion Storm hummed in agreement, leaning back in the chair and steepling his fingers. A ping resounded through his comm. and, sighing dramatically, he opened the line.

  
_.:Ion Storm here, what is it?:._

  
_.:How far through those datapads are you?:._ Came the reply from his trineleader, frustration easily heard through the line.

  
_.:Three-quarters at best, give me a joor and they'll be done.:._

  
_.:I need them done quicker than that! Outpost Ξ is getting narked and he hasn't said anything yet but I'd rather not have to deal with Shockwave about this. He expects efficiency and by Primus, we'll deliver on that. So get to it! Drag in Nova if you have to, and tell him if he doesn't get on with it, I'll confiscate all his high-grade; I know where he stashed it.:._  
Ion Storm heard Nova swearing angrily from across the room; his trinemate obviously listening in to the comm..

  
_.:I'll be there in 8 cycles at the latest, if they're not sorted, I'm using you as a shield next time we encounter an Autobot patrol. That goes for you too, Nova, don't think I don't know you're listening in._  
_Acid Storm out.:._

  
'Stupid glitch,' groused Nova Storm, pushing himself off the desk and stomping over to the datapad pile ''S'not our fault that Ξ are being impatient. We've all got scrap to do, no need to throw a tantrum over it.' He picked one up, glaring at it like it was personally responsible for the predicament.  
Ion Storm shrugged and resumed his task, now accompanied - albeit reluctantly - by his yellow trinemate.

 

 

 

A joor later and the pile had been attacked and filed away into a number of boxes ready to be recycled, the data uploaded onto a secure database and double, triple and quadruple checked for errors, missing data or any other mistakes which could land the filers in hot oil should they be noticed. Especially since the database was maintained by their direct superior, and the one-opticed scientist was as meticulous as he was logical; even the slightest error would be a mark against them and could, if coupled with any other mistakes, get them demoted. This would be - as he had said to them - quite reasonable grounds for their trineleader to offline them both permanently, at least in his opinion.  
As Ion Storm typed in a few more strings of numbers, the door slide open and Nova Storm swaggered into the room, depositing an energon cube next to his trinemate, before throwing himself back into his previously vacated seat, another cube balanced between his dactyls.  
'20000 or so datapads, done and dusted. Primus, what a waste of our time.' Nova Storm said, swirling the cube with irritation before taking a swig.

  
'Filing too boring for you, eh Nova?'

  
'You bet your aft it is,' the yellow seeker grumbled 'we're the slagging Rainmakers, not some stupid little office drone. It's demeaning.'  
Ion Storm hummed in agreement, finishing recording the datapad and placing it in the final box, while Nova Storm tested every chair in the room for the one that would spin best.

A comfortable silence reigned before the door slid open again. A neon green seeker stalked though the open aperture, prepared to give a glossa-lashing to his trinemates for slacking but stalling, seeing all their work done and ready to be processed.

  
'Hey, 'sup Acid, task's done, what do ya want us to do now?'  
Acid Storm glowered at his yellow trinemate before walking over to the boxes and giving them a brief inspection.

  
'All of them?'

  
'Yup'

  
'Yes'  
Acid Storm relaxed slightly and gave them a tight, tired grimace.

  
'Right Ion, you've checked it yes?' A nod. 'Good, get that sent to Shockwave double-speed, it's not desperately needed but I'd rather be on top of this than lagging behind.'  
Ion Storm turned back to the console he'd been using and pinged the guardian, notifying the violet mech of the incoming infomation, before sending it on. The database was triple encoded, even though it wouldn't be leaving the Spacebridge Control Hub; you never knew whether Autobots had got in or not and it was better to be paranoid and safe, than careless and sorry.  
Acid Storm sank into one of the empty seats with a deep sigh, offlining his optics, stretching his pedes away from him and rubbing the bridge of his olfactory sensors.

  
'Tired?' Ion Storm asked with a grin at his leader. The seeker made a rude gesture at his Wing, his optics onlined in annoyed slits.

  
'Got any energon?'

  
'Nova can get some for you.'

  
'No, Nova can't, as Nova can't be bothered.' Red optics glared from the chair across the room, then vanished as the chair rotated away from them.

  
'Nova will or I'm going to break into Nova's engex stash and drink all of it.' Acid Storm's optics glittered with a malicious glee and Nova Storm clamped his mouth shut, denta clinking on contact. He quickly got to his pedes and all but ran to the dispenser as Acid Storm laughed uproariously.  
A few kliks later and a cube found its way into his servo with the mulish yellow seeker's return. He threw himself into his chair and span it around so it faced away from his trine, sulking like a sparkling denied an energon treat.

'So,' Ion Storm said at length, 'this transfer that's happening, you authorise it?'

  
Acid Storm gave him a disdainful look, optical ridge raised.  
'Who else would? I'm Air Commander of Cybertron in Starscream's absence offworld; no Decepticon flyer goes in or out without my say so, unless our resident guardian or SIC says otherwise.'

  
'Okay, okay. No need to bite my head off.' Ion Storm chuckled.

  
Acid Storm raised an eyebrow, then took a swig of energon. He pulled a face at its aftertaste - a side effect of Earthern energy sources no doubt - then looked thoughtful for a klik.

  
'Though now you say that, I haven't heard anything from Starscream for well over an orn now, so whether they're actually needed is something I'm going to have to rely on Shockwave to know and pass on. Nothing appears to have changed. Probably some big plan of Lord Megatron's that needs more air support.'

 

 

 

At length, a ping sounded and Acid Storm groaned in frustration. Ion Storm had decided to have a power nap - no surprises there, his energy drain acting up again - while Nova Storm had started up his personal datapad and was seemingly playing some sort of game that involved a lot of tapping, swearing, and rude gestures.  
The seeker stood up and stretched, wings hiking up before relaxing and re-locking. Another ping, more urgent this time, sounded and with an annoyed growl he answered his comm.

  
_.:What?:._  
There was an affronted huff from the line.

  
_.:Took you long enough,:._ Beaker's reedy voice was threaded with impatience. _.:I need you or one of your trine down here as soon as possible; there's nothing on Corona's frametype specifics and I need them for her checkup.:._

  
_.:Not in the database that Patch-Up had?:._  
The medic scoffed.

  
_.:As if. Half the files are either shoddy, corrupted or non-existent. The fact that any of you are still functioning with such an incompetent individual as Patch-Up as your previous medic is a miracle. And it says he was a licenced one as well; doesn't that just fill you with confidence on the ability and intelligence of the Iambic Association? That they considered him competent? Honestly, I-:._

  
_.:Look, Beaker, to be frank, I honestly couldn't care less. I'm on my way down now. Goodbye.:._

  
_.:Now wait just one minute-:._

Acid Storm switched of his comm. with a tired huff. The medic was a new transfer; their last one - Patch-Up - had met a premature and unfortunate end in the Sea of Rust. What had happened was still a mystery and ever since the reawakening of the Earth-bound Decepticons they'd been too busy to even recover the body, let alone learn the cause of death. Beaker, and the two mavericks he had for Deployers, had been transferred in from Outpost Λ shortly after. He - like most Decepticon medics - was technically in a different field; he had been a chemist, and a damn fine one as well, but had been ordered to take a crash course in medic training after Λ's medic was killed by scraplets. He wasn't used to working with patients instead of chemicals and his bedside manner had a lot to be desired, even in a medic of their faction. He also had a habit of striding off into huge ranting tangents over the tiniest of mistakes or slights to him or his work. You had to head him off early or suffer for it. In short, he was completely insufferable, but you learnt to deal with that in their line of work. Plus, with medics in such short supply, beggars really couldn't be choosers.  
He only really got mouthy with Acid Storm because their ranks were close enough for it not to be gross insubordination; he wouldn't dare with Shockwave, medic or not.

With a final stretch, clicking his digits into place, he cast a exasperated look to his comrades - who responded with a snore and a rude gesture respectively - and keyed the open command into the door. Purple riveted corridors stretched on endlessly as he strode to the medbay, the occasional door flashing by, most of them locked, although one or two were open, through which the many drones that kept the complex running could be seen, working tirelessly. Their existence was the reason behind the lack of personnel in the building; why bother with cybes - who need to be fuelled and housed - where a drone can do the job with less effort and space used. Plus, the drones weren't prone to talking back.

Eventually the red glow of the medbay's sign replaced the cold white of the previous corridors as Acid Storm walked up to the door. It swished open and he almost walked into a rather irritated Beaker.  
'There was no need for that stunt earlier.' He said with a sniff, before turning away and walking into the room, Acid Storm following with an amused smile on his face.

  
'There was, otherwise it would've taken us a joor to get anything done. You have a habit of ranting. Try and deal with that; I let it go this time but other mechs won't be as forgiving.'  
Beaker grumbled but relented. He had positioned himself in front of a console next to a large tube with translucent glass sides. He gestured to the tube with a contemptuous flick. The green seeker raised an optical ridge at the rude action, but complied anyway. He slipped into the tube and the hatch slid shut.

  
:.:Right:.: came Beaker's voice over the tannoy, :.:I need you to step onto the two glowing panels and put your servos on the ones on the wall. This will give me a good template of your sub-frametype.:.:  
Acid Storm manoeuvred himself into position - the tube was a lot narrower than it appeared and he'd rather not scrape his wings on the sides.

  
'In position.' He called out.

  
:.:Scan begins in 3..2..1..:.:  
The glowing panels changed from their original white to a soft crimson. A sharp tingling sensation began in the parts in contact with the panels. A line of red traveled from his helm down to his pedes, then the lighting became amber.  
:.:I'm going to need full wing movement; positions 7, 13, and 21, if you would.:.:  
Acid Storm unlocked his wings, the sensors switching on and alerting him to the lack of air movement. Ignoring them and the creeping sensation of the tube contracting - Seeker claustrophobia making itself known - he raised his wings to their highest point, held them in neutral then dropped them to their lowest point. The lights turned green and the hatch slid open again.

Suppressing a shiver, the mech got out of the tube, his wings twitching slightly at the return of moving air before he re-locked them, reducing the oppressive air of the building back to normal levels. The green and orange minibot at the console was typing, a frown on his faceplates as he processed the infomation from the scan as Acid Storm joined him.

  
'Good enough?' Beaker looked to him and nodded.

  
'Yes, this should suffice. Corona has different modifications to you but if I strip yours from your scan I've got the template for all Cynex-3 frametypes in the case of an emergency. It would have been better if I'd had them already, more incompetence from...' He trailed off, Acid Storm's annoyed glare quieting him.  
'Ehhem, yes, well,' Beaker clapped his servos together and and rubbed them together with a nervous half-smile 'That will be all for now, Acid Storm. Unless something else comes up, you can go.'  
The green seeker nodded and turned to leave. He'd almost made it to the door when Beaker asked a question.  
'What's their departure time then? Hypernova's trine?' Acid Storm looked back to the medic who was still at the console, his curiosity obvious.

  
'Two joors at the most, why?'

  
'Just wanted to know how much time I had to complete their checkups.'

 

'Right.' The seeker reached the door and was about to open it when it opened for him. In front of him was a light yellow and red seeker, about his height, but bulkier. In their servos they held two struggling deployers, one larger green one and a smaller red one.

  
'Ah, Corona, come for your check up, have you?' Acid Storm said with a raised optical ridge.

  
'Yeah, plus I've got these two maniacs to drop off with their host-mech.' With that she released her grip on them and they fell to the floor with a squark of surprise. The green mini mech scowled at her and stomped off towards Beaker whilst the other gave Corona a sharp boot to the pede, which earned him a return kick, shooting him across the floor despite the relative gentleness of it.  
'Keep your Pitspawn on a shorter leash before the boss catches them doing something stupid and gives 'em the boot.' Beaker levelled a scowl at the seeker before moving it to focus on his charges, both who, having seen the relative lenience shown so far, decided not to push their luck and so kept mum.

  
'What in Primus' name were you two doing now!' The minibot huffed in irritation, tightening his grip on a laser scalpel and expecting the worst. The deployers stared back at him.

  
'Nothing.' intoned the green one, her helm angled away and servos folded. Her red companion nodded and fidgeted.

  
'A likely story,' Beaker snapped, almost slamming the scalpel down, but remembering just in time to terminate said action so as not to cut his own servo off.

Knowing that the deployer's interrogation would take a while, Corona turned to leave and nodded to Acid Storm, who had been watching the exchange with concealed amusement. The two seekers left the medbay just as Beaker exploded with rage.  
'You did WHAT?'

 

 

 

'Thanks for the reassignment, sir.'

Acid Storm regarded the red and yellow seeker with interest.

  
'You are pleased by it, then?'

  
'Primus, yes,' she said, wings drooping ''Been stuck planetside for so long, I'd have done anything to get off. You can only take so many identikit patrols before you snap and snuff someone.' She laughed. 'Plus all the action's on Sol 3 right now, so me, Hyper and Fire can go and contribute to the good fight. Show those Autobot gits whose the superior ones, eh?'

  
'They'll be glad to have you,' said Acid Storm as the pair left the medbay's corridor and walked towards the inner sanctum of the Hub. 'Lord Megatron is always welcoming to those loyal to him, and you've proven that loyalty over many vorns of good work.'  
Corona's faceplate lit up.

  
'Thank you, sir.'  
They walked in companionable silence for a while until Corona stopped and gave an apologetic smile.

  
'Sorry, sir, Hypernova's just pinged me, we've got a briefing to go through with Hotlink and I need to go.' With that, she turned and ran down an intersection in the corridor leaving Acid Storm alone.

 

 

Outside the walls a strong wind was blowing and it's quiet howling could just be heard over the ambient sounds of the compound. Acid Storm checked his comm. to see the status of his subordinates. Only two of the seekers he managed were currently offline; Ion Storm was recharging thanks to the problem he had with his Sigma ability and Nacelle had spent the last two orns on patrol and was having a well-deserved rest. He considered having a quick dash around the compound to stretch his wings; locking his wings negated some of the claustrophobia but couldn't completely remove it. But that wind sounded rough; too strong a gust could throw him into a dangerous spiral and crash him into the ruins of the city surrounding the compound and the complaining from Beaker during the repairs would make him wish he'd offlined.  
Suddenly struck with a brainwave, he strode off down the corridor to the monitor room, which was empty bar two drones. Most of the screens were of the corridors and showed nothing of interest as he walked over to the displays showing the atmospheric conditions at the precise moment. He pulled a face as he looked at the readings; winds of over 200mph, and the pH levels of the rain it was bringing along with it was a bit strong even for his acid resistant armour.

 

With a frustrated sigh, he fell back into one of the chairs and glanced over the screens showing movement. Everyone was getting on with their allotted tasks - well except for his Wings but Nova Storm didn't do his work, even when Acid Storm was there, unless threatened with losing something. And Ion Storm was still offline to the world. The green seeker frowned at that. Although his Wing's Sigma ability side effect was well known to the populace of the base and to Command, he sometimes felt concern for the blue mech. What if his extreme fatigue became too much of a burden on the Decepticon cause? Although the three of them were a Trine, it had been made clear to him early on that Megatron believed the tradition to be unimportant and prone to making his soldiers weak. Despite the relative incorrectness of this view, the grey warlord wouldn't be easily swayed from his position, and so if push came to shove, Trine bonds be damned, they'd have to give Ion the boot. But the damage that his EMP and electrokinetic abilities could wreak made him pretty invaluable in combat; his contribution to storm seeding was also not overlooked. So at least for now, his place on the hierarchy was secure.

 

 

 

Heavy pedfalls from the corridor moving towards the monitor room shook Acid Storm out of his reverie. How long had he been sat there, musing over his trinemate's condition? His optics brightened with surprise when he checked his internal chronometer and saw that almost a joor had passed since he'd entered the room.  
He got up from his seat just in time to fall into position with a salute as the Guardian of Cybertron walked into the room. Shockwave's yellow optic scanned the room, taking in every screen before it alighted on the seeker. He nodded at him, an unspoken request for Acid Storm to be at ease.

  
'Acid Storm. Your presence here is a most helpful occurrence; my time would have been wasted in a search for you, which would have been detrimental to the tasks of all parties. Soundwave has notified me of Starscream's departure from the Victory, which would put his arrival at Earth's Spacebridge in 6786 kliks. I require Trine Δ4 in position at the spacebridge in 4500 kliks at the latest. Notify them; punctuality is key.' The purple mech was straight to the point and Acid Storm nodded at his superior officer.

  
'Certainly, Shockwave. Is there anyone else that is required to be present?' Shockwave had activated one of the consoles as he spoke; an analysis program of atmospheric conditions over Tyger Pax started up and the mech turned back to the expectant cyb.

  
'You and your trine will be present as the Cybertronian Elite Trine and you as acting Cybertronian Air Commander; it would be prudent to have Beaker on hand, despite the fact that the odds for any incidents involving injury occurring are-' he paused, quickly calculating the probability '-10024794 to 1. Notify him that his deployers are to stay contained unless their assistance is required as they are likely to disrupt the proceedings. All other personnel need not be present - instruct them to perform scouting and scanning of the area to prevent Autobot interference.'

  
'Of course Shockwave. I'll get right on that.'  
Acid Storm snapped off a salute and left the room. First he pinged his comrades, telling them to be present at the main control room in half a joor. They responded with little enthusiasm, but a very creative threat mollified Nova and properly woke Ion up, dispelling the grogginess of his impromptu nap.

  
_.:Beaker. Acid Storm here. Be present at the command hub ASAP for Starscream's arrival:._  
He heard the grumble on the other end of the comm. and knew that the minibot was about to start complaining, so he nipped it in the bud.

  
_.:Shockwave's orders:._ The line went silent then, no surprise. Suppressing laughter at the other mech's expense, he conveyed the rest of the instructions.  
.:Of course I'll keep them contained,:. He groused .:After the stunt they pulled today they'll be lucky if they leave my compartment for a deca-cycle!:.  
Acid Storm laughed, imagining the two deployers sulking in their host's chest compartment.

  
_.:Have you seen anymore of Δ4?:._

  
_.:Yes,:._ Beaker replied, sounding ever-so-slightly distracted. _.:Firewind's here now and she's-:._ A clatter of equipment, loud swearing and a long suffering sigh. _.:-being difficult. Why, is there something you need from them?:._

  
_.:Just that they need to also get down the the hub as soon as able, so we don't keep our esteemed Aerospace Commander waiting. Perish the thought that we wouldn't be there on time to witness his majesty.:._ The sarcasm was layered thick, and Beaker's badly-stifled snort could just about be heard through the comm. link.

  
_.:Sure, I'll tell her.:._ There was momentary quiet as Beaker relayed the message to the seeker in his med bay. Some muffled shouting occurred, then Beaker came back on the call.

  
_.:Firewind'll pass on the message, but asked - and I'm paraphrasing here, because I've had to use a sedative so she'll not panic during the scan and she doesn't really know what she's saying - why you couldn't do it your, um, damn self.:._ There was pause. _.:Her version had a lot more cursing, personal insults, and, uh, general rudeness about your hotspot and mentor so I decided to spare you that.:._

  
_.:Much appreciated, Beaker. I'll see you in 20 breems.:._  
Acid Storm cut the link and set off towards the room occupied by his trinemates. They would need to have a quick polish before going to the Hub; he hadn't had a chance to go for a proper clean and wouldn't until after the energon shipment arrived and Δ4 left. But after that, the schedule of things outside normal patrols and base management would drop significantly and all non-essential personnel would be reassigned until needed to other Decepticon outposts. He would have to finish drafting that proposal for an investigation in the ruins around the Rust Sea, so he could run it past Shockwave at first convenience. He exvented and smiled. This cycle appeared to be decidedly in his favour, and would hopefully be so for the continued future.

 

 

 

'17.89 breems and counting from Starscream's expected arrival. I must say, it seems illogical for Soundwave to have made an error regarding his travel time; most unexpected but it appears to have happened regardless. He must arrive soon, before the spacebridge becomes inoperable.'  
The party assembled in the control hub of the compound had been standing around twiddling their digits for almost a joor now and even Acid Storm's patience was beginning to wear thin. Ion Storm was dead to the world, not asleep but definitely zoned out. Nova Storm had begun to fidget with a stylus he'd found and was profoundly irritating the acid green seeker out of the corner of his eye. Hypernova still stood firmly to attention in front of the Spacebridge entrance while her Wings chatted behind her. Luckily for them, Shockwave had long since stopped paying attention to the group to focus on discovering the reason for the delay, otherwise the orange and purple femme and her yellow and red companion would have been in serious trouble. Their icy blue wing leader was giving her wingmates a very caustic look which bounced off Firewind but was definitely getting to Corona who had trailed off and was looking at her pedes nervously. Beaker had retrieved a datapad from his subspace and had started checking through the med-bay's inventory, every so often giving a surreptitious glance at Shockwave, making sure that the guardian wasn't aware of him also not standing to attention.

The screen above the consoles crackled to life and the face of one of the Reflectors - Primus knows which one - appeared. The video was static-ky and in the background shouting and plasma fire could be heard.  
'Earth Spacebridge Outpost to Cybertron Command. Are you receiving?'  
Ion Storm had came to with a start, glanced around, and with a sharp nod from his trineleader, jogged over to the consoles and opened their end of the call.  
'Loud and clear...'

  
'Spectro.'

  
'Right, Spectro, of course. What's happening down there?'

  
'Autobot ambush. They must've intercepted the transmission we sent before; they were on us the moment we reached the spacebridge.'  
An explosion rocked the screen and Spectro swore loudly.  
'Where's the Air Commander?' Ion Storm said, optics bright in surprise and concern.

  
'He, Skywarp and Thundercracker have just entered spacebridge proper. They've still got most of the shipment but the Autobots got their filthy servos on some of it.'  
Ion Storm looked back over the room, where everyone was watching the screen with degrees of shock. Shockwave strode over to the console and Ion Storm backed off.

  
'Spectro. You are to send Starscream and his trine to Cybertron immediately. I will supply cybes to accompany them back to combat the Autobot intruders and retrieve any taken energon.'  
Spectro saluted and began typing rapidly on the console on the other end. A bolt of plasma missed his helm by inches, then another narrowly avoided the console.

As he pressed the final button in the sequence, one of the shots finally hit home. The console exploded in sparks and blue fire. He fell back with a cry, the screen shorting out then rebooting; colour had been lost and static obscured most of the image but they could still see through it.

  
'Spacebridge- _*kszths*_ -activated, Starscream and co.- _*kzitf*_ \- enroute to Cyber- _*jkszit*_ -'  
With that the screen shut down and the hub was silent.  
Shockwave keyed some commands into the console then returned to his position in front of the spacebridge entrance.

  
'Beaker. Contact all other cybes active in the hub and order them here immediately. They may be required at '  
The minibot nodded and activated the comm. link.  
The lights on the sides of the bridge chamber cycled through thrice before a small klaxon alerted them to the arrival of the transport. There was a sound like a hydraulic press and the spacebridge received the matter transmission. Everyone stood to attention, all optics focuses on the door. Finally the chime sounded for the end of the process and the door slid open with a hiss.

  
'Commander Starscream, welcome back.'  
No response. Shockwave's eye brightened slightly and he stepped forward, Acid Storm accompanying him. The chamber was empty of cybes, just a smaller than expected pile of energon cubes.

  
'What on Cybertron...' Acid Storm murmured in confusion. Where had Starscream gone? Was this some sort of prank, thought up by Skywarp? If it wasn't for Thundercracker and Starscream also having transported through they would have supposed so, but this was just strange.  
There was a small click, too quiet for their audials to pick up.  
Acid Storm overtook Shockwave as he peered into the chamber. No crevices, nowhere to hide.  
The volume of the ticking grew louder. The cubes closest to the sound’s origin had begun to glow brighter and shake.  
He looked down and the brightly glowing, rattling energon cubes caught his optic..

  
'Frag!' The seeker yelped and back-pedalled. The cubes shook harder and began to emit a high pitched whine.  
'Everybody, get DOWN!' Acid Storm leapt backwards, servo catching around Shockwave's waist and yanking both of them out of the blast radius as some of the cubes reached critical mass and detonated.  
This set off the other reacting cubes, as well as something else concealed within the stack, and the hub shook down to its foundations. The chamber ruptured, panels shattered and consoles shorted out. Shrapnel flew and embedded itself everywhere, including in the cybes scrambling for cover. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the destruction stopped.

 

 

 

Acid Storm rebooted his optics.  
His audials were ringing; the feedback from the explosion still reverberating in his helm. The console nearby spat sparks and he could distantly hear the wail of a klaxon, though it was muffled. Every part of his frame ached and a sharp pain in his left pede notified him that he had not been spared from the rain of metal shards. He lifted his helm and instantly regretted it as sharp, knife-like pain shot down his circuits. His optics brightened as he hissed but continued to move, pushing himself up using one servo, until he was no longer lying on the floor. His other servo was still held around Shockwave, who's single optic bulb was dark, although the tiny bio-lights on his servos and a faint glow to his chassis showed him to be in stasis, not dead. He retracted the servo like it had been burnt as the optic dimly glowed then fully brightened. Shockwave sat up, managing to stay balanced - despite the lack of balancing left servo - and looked at Acid Storm, who grimaced. Sticking out of the violet mech's shoulder plating was a piece of shrapnel larger than his helm, and a thin but steady stream of energon was trickling down across the large light on his chassis. Acid Storm got unsteadily to his pedes and offered a servo, which Shockwave considered momentarily before grasping it and pulling himself up off the floor.

'Alright, sound off. Who's not dead?'

  
A chorus of groans answered Beaker's question; everyone was online. Beaker had got to his pedes and was limping around the room to check on all the cybes present at ground zero. He had lost a huge chunk of his leg plating but was still powering on. He approached the two of them, but was waved away; Hypernova was lying on her front a few paces from them, with her wings bent backwards and offline to the world, so treating her was more urgent.

  
'Contact Bitstream.' Shockwave said, his optic scanning the chaos that was now the main hub chamber. 'Get him to contact Lord Megatron and inform him the spacebridge is now inoperable on our end. Extreme damage has been inflicted on the main Hub, which will require time and resources to repair.'

  
'Right away, Shockwave.'

  
Acid Storm quickly opened his comm. to be inundated with pings from every other seeker on the base. He found Bitstream's link and quickly pinged him back.

  
.:ACID STORM! Fragging Pit, mech I've been pinging you for the last groon! What the Pit happened?:.

  
.:Energon cubes from Earth reached critical mass, wrecked the main hub. Repairable but time consuming. Too much damage for just an energon reaction though; there must have been some sort of Autobot explosive concealed. Shockwave's asked me to get you to contact Lord Megatron while we clean this up.:.

  
.:Well frag.:. Bitstream said and Acid Storm frowned.

  
.:What's wrong?:.

.:The communication tower's on its last legs, as is the spacebridge receiver; any more damage and-:. He stopped. .:Slag:.

  
There was a shriek of rending metal which could be heard even through the roof and a loud bang as the receiver buckled and impacted with the roof. Glass panels that had been cracked by the initial explosion finally gave up the ghost and shattered. Nova Storm had been standing beneath one of these but gave a yelp and dived to the side as it showered the floor in dagger-like shards.  
'I presume that was the spacebridge receiver.' Shockwave intoned, his monotonous voice tinged with resignation - a large show of emotion for the logic driven mech.

  
'Unfortunately.' Acid Storm replied, yanking his trinemate to his pedes. Both Ion Storm and Nova had avoided much of the calamity and escaped with only a bit of paint loss. Corona and Firewind were also fine, if a little worse for wear.

  
‘That will have crushed the communications tower.’

  
‘Yes.’ The green seeker grimaced.

  
'So,' Nova Storm said, looking around the wrecked room, optics wide and bright, 'let me get this straight: the spacebridge has exploded, we've lost all of the energon shipment to an Autobot ambush, and our Air Commander and his trine have vanished into the ether.'

  
'That's right,' Acid Storm said with a scowl. 'And now we have no way of contacting Lord Megatron.'

  
Nova Storm shuttered his optics, and then expressed the current feeling of every cyb present:  
'Well scrap.'

**Author's Note:**

> First thing I've posted ever on AO3, so slightly nervous about this.  
> There's currently no schedule for updates, but i'll try to update with some semblance of regularity.  
> Constructive criticism is appreciated; i definitely want to know how i can do better with my stories.  
> Hope you've enjoyed it so far!


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